Bolton’s Genies The Monthly Newsletter of the Bolton Family History Society: https://www.mlfhs.uk/bolton •Newsletter Comments, and Speaker Bookings: [email protected] •Newsletter Archives since July 2014: https://www.mlfhs.uk/bolton/newsletter/archives •General Society enquiries to the BFHS Secretary, Christine M Ellis [email protected] •Bolton Research help, please email [email protected] or Manchester Research email a brief enquiry to, https://www.mlfhs.uk/virtual-help-desk or visit our •Bolton Facebook page https://goo.gl/n99qtW 784 Likes and 859 Following on 6th February 2021 •Bolton Research Collection on MLFHS website: https://www.mlfhs.uk/bolton/research (for members only and ongoing) •Join the MLFHS/BFHS at: https://www.mlfhs.uk/join . 2021 February 80th Edition Bolton Family History Society is a branch of The Manchester & Lancashire Family History Society Banner picture shows Farnworth Mill from an early engraving, date, and source unknown, in what is now known as Moses Gate Country Park, Farnworth. It is viewed from across the River Croal which is flowing right to left, Vale House, home of the Cromptons, is on the waterside and Rock Hall, the subject of the article below, the whitish house near the skyline, to the right of the three chimneys. Well, it really is hard to believe that it is a year ago this coming month, since we helped the Lancashire Archives celebrate their 80th Anniversary and had our last meeting at the Old Links Golf Club the following week. We knew something possibly world shattering was looming, but no idea how big the event was to be. I suspect we can all now empathise much better, with our ancestors who only 100 years ago lurched from WW1 to the Spanish flu epidemic losing another 200,000. It puts it all in a different perspective doesn’t it. A year on however, we are learning to adapt to our new way of living. Life will never be the same again and we are having to learn new ways to communicate to keep in touch. Different, but not entirely negative vibes. There is a light at the end of this tunnel though. Here at BFHS we are doing our best trying to adapt to Zooming, which remains a big learning curve for us all. We hope, although still not perfect, you are able to appreciate the benefits of it. You will see below the results of our February AGM and the committee changes. Graham Holt is now retiring from all committee responsibilities, although he has agreed to continue hosting the Zoom events for now. We do still need someone else to assist though, and even take over at times, if not, the meeting could well be cancelled. This is not necessarily a committee role, more a question of someone with computer nous. 1 PLEASE NOTE- MONTHLY MEETINGS DURING PANDEMIC REGULATIONS • Where? Online via Eventbrite for the foreseeable future, • When? on the first Wednesday of most months at 7.30pm, joining from 7.15pm RECENT AND COMING EVENTS Thursday January 14th 7.30pm zoom talk by a MLFHS Dave Burnham for Westhoughton Local History Group “Children of the Workhouse, Children in Public Care 1900-1947” https://tinyurl.com/y5hhnknr Well one of the few bonuses of this lock down / social isolation malarkey is that although we can’t physically attend meetings like we used to, the online replacements are now much more accessible, and available to anybody with a suitable internet connecting device, from anywhere in the world. My problem now is trying to fit them all into an increasingly busy diary. This opportunity from WLHG was one not to be missed though, as Dave is also one of our MLFHS members and a regular speaker. A free talk by him, about the Bolton Workhouse, known to be a subject of special interest to him, was one of those golden moments to be grabbed. It was also their first Zoom talk, so a few of us from BFHS were more than happy to drop in and give support. Of course, we had particular interest as we have a team, led by Graham Holt, still busy transcribing the Bolton workhouse creed registers. The introduction to the talk was given as “Locked down? Think times are bad? Well start 2021 by seeing what conditions were like in the Bolton Workhouse 200 years ago! Dave started his talk by describing one of the first moves to help care for destitute children, when as far back as 1839 Thomas Coram opened his Foundling Hospital in London https://www.coram.org.uk/about-us/our-heritage- foundling-hospital . (Editor’s Note See also a coming talk on this by Jane King, at the coming FHF Show on April 10th https://tinyurl.com/y2y3xakw). A sad side effect of the increasing industrial activity of the Victorian era was the squalor, and deprivation seen particularly in the growing cities, caused by the influx of whole families from moving from the rural to urban areas looking for work. Children who might have been unwanted, or at least sadly could not be cared for by their hapless parent(s) or extended family and were hopefully fostered out to what often turned out to be disreputable “halfway houses” or worse, possibly just abandoned. The notorious “baby farmers” were not a myth https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-39330793 . Initially “fortunate ladies” arranged soup kitchens and similar, and various charitable children’s homes such as Edgeworth, Dr Barnardo’s, Waifs and Strays, where they were at least fed and clothed adequately, given some education and trade skills. From the 1850s some were sent out to the colonies under the controversial emigration schemes to help increase their populations, and it is only recently that it is now recognised how badly some were mistreated. By 1900 in Bolton, under the Poor Law system, there were 40 places for children in the Fishpool Workhouse, (now the Royal Bolton hospital) with strict control by the Guardians, wishing to be thrifty and review of each child every two years. In or out relief was provided and also free medical care from Dr W G Grace, and smallpox vaccinations provided. By 1912 1000 old people, lunatics, mental defectives,” lonelorn” women and children were receiving “in house” help, and another 2000 “out relief”. A Relieving Officer, usually male, gave weekly reports to the Guardians. 2 Typical reasons for the children being admitted were, habitually drunk parents, disabilities that could not be managed at home, they were unwanted stepchildren, or those of tramps according to William Payne, an NSPCC officer of the time. Lives were often short due to mismanaged childbirth, infections, industrial accidents, and of course poor nutrition and social conditions. Things were improving though. Births and deaths were supervised and registered, bastardy orders were followed up, lunatics were monitored, an agent was appointed to visit “mental defectives “to check their care, private fostering was supervised to check quality. Children who had left at the age of 13 for employment were followed up unto 21. In Bolton Alice Kearsley was appointed as the first “lady visitor for children” (albeit at 2/3rds of a man’s salary” and apparently selected more through nepotism than qualifications. She managed 20 volunteers, throughout WW1 until 1919, with her office on Wood street. Dave mentioned 76 application forms still in the Bolton Archives. When the troops came home from the war, expecting to instantly recover their bread winner duties, this meant the women who had become emancipated, having gained experience and confidence keeping the home fires burning, resented being told to stand down. Internal politics eventually caused the newly married Alice to take retirement and Annie Higginson took over, with little experience other than having been an insurance sick visitor in Blackburn. A few months later Ada Wainer from Oldham took over the mantle and she was the first of new breed of “visitor” to have had some form of professional training in midwifery, childcare at a creche, and nanny for her vicar’s three children. In the 1930s the Guardians system was abolished, and the Council Public Assistance Committee introduced to be responsible for welfare. In 1933 as a result of the Children and Young Persons Act the School Board Men, became the School and Welfare Officers, and moved into these familiar offices. Approximately 250 children went into public care in the inter war years, many being genuine orphans, and this could have been the Cottage Homes, boarded out with approved families, children’s home run by voluntary groups, adoption, or if warranted Industrial Schools such as the one at Lostock. The pre-war evacuation of 1939 created more problems. No other combatant country even attempted to find safer places for the children, and placings here were difficult and not always successful, Ada Wainer retired in 1945 to be replaced by Child Welfare Visitors Mavis Smith, C Ross, and Miss Riffler. The new team seem to have been becoming even more progressive and enlightened with Ms Ross advocating keeping siblings together if possible, and a better awareness of the need to monitor the new care scene and ensure the child’s wellbeing both physically and mentally. Dave mentioned Bolton’s own Susan Isaacs here https://melanie-klein-trust.org.uk/writers/susan-isaacs/ as being one of the pioneers of the thinking of improved childcare and helping their development. Throughout the 20thC the NSPCC https://tinyurl.com/y27bvzo7 (modelled on the RSPCA animal welfare organisation https://www.rspca.org.uk/whatwedo/whoweare/history and staffed predominantly by men, were the leaders of UK child welfare and protection.